What Claims has the dead priest upon your prayers?
He was your father in Christ. He it was who engendered you in the Lord, he who poured the saving waters of baptism upon your head and made you children of God, with the right to heaven. He it was who cleansed you again and again from sin, in the Sacrament of Penance. He it was who broke for you the bread of Life. In sickness he succored you, in sorrow he consoled you. He blessed your marriage, instructed your little ones in their duty towards God, and lighted the dim vision of your dying with the glory of heaven beyond. He prayed for your dead and lightened your bereavement. Who can count his many offices for you? and are not all these so many claims upon your Christian charity? How can you better repay them than by the tribute of your prayers? Ah. your poor dead priest will prize these more than anything else earth can bestow. It matters little to him whether a costly monument be raised over his last resting place, or that his form be molded in imperishable bronze. A place in the hearts of a grateful people and a memento in their prayers he prizes more than these. It is for this reason that many a great and holy bishop has asked to be buried, not in the crypt of a cathedral church, but in a the chapel of an orphanage, where the little ones will see his simple monument and offer a prayer for his soul, or, like the late bishop of Portland, whose wish was to lie in the common cemetery with the hope that his name would find place in the prayers of the people who came there to pray for their beloved dead.
If you, the sheep of his fold, do not pray for him, who will? Father and mother he has none. They have gone before him. Children, he leaves none behind. Family and friends he forsook for your sake. Surely you will not turn a deaf ear to the voice of his petition coming from the grave: "Have pity, on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, the hand of God hath touched me."
--The life and Writing of the Right Reverend John Bernard Delany, D.D. Second Bishop of Manchester N.H. 1911
Beads for the Dead
To be prayed on the beads of a Rosary:
On the Cross say:
De Profundis, or Pater, Ave, Gloria
DE PROFUNDIS: Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities; Lord, who shall abide it? Because with Thee there is merciful forgiveness; and by reason of Thy law I have waited for Thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on His word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. Because with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him plentiful Redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all her iniquities.
V. Eternal rest give to them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
V. Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto Thee.
On the large beads of a Rosary:
Act of Faith: O my God, I believe in Thee, because Thou art Truth itself.
Act of Hope: O my God, I hope in Thee, because Thou art so good and merciful.
Act of Love and sorrow: O my God, I love Thee with my whole heart, and because I love Thee, I am sorry I ever offended Thee, do Thou, O Lord, increase my love and sorrow.
On the Small beads:
Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.
At the End of each decade:
Eternal rest give to Father (N…), O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on him, May he rest in peace. Amen
Concluding prayer:
Psalm CXXIX, De Profundis, or Pater, Ave Maria, Gloria
Treasure of the Sanctuary, Sisters of Charity